Nick Mason is best known for being Pink Floyd’s drummer. Pink Floyd is a renowned British rock ensemble. Since 1965, he has been a crucial member of the group, contributing to the strong, dependable beats that have come to be associated with the music of the group.
Mason is the only band member who can claim to have been present when Pink Floyd formed in 1965 and to be the only guy to have performed on all of their recordings. Drummer Mason also works as a producer, songwriter, and engineer. He created many of the band’s recognizable sound effects, produced the group’s early recordings, and wrote a number of songs. Mason was a significant contributor in the studio as well, frequently playing multiple instruments on one recording.
His contributions to the groundbreaking Pink Floyd are frequently disregarded. This makes sense given that the virtuosity of peers like David Gilmour, Roger Waters, and Richard Wright is what first catches the attention of casual Pink Floyd admirers. In addition, a crucial discussion point in the rich tapestry of Pink Floyd’s career has been the departure and battles with Syd Barrett’s mental health of the band’s founding member and former frontman. This has also contributed to Mason’s efforts passing unnoticed in some ways.
One wonders what music made Pink Floyd and all of its members tick given how densely inventive they were. It may not come as a surprise that Mason admitted Pink Floyd was inspired by rock music in its most basic form during a 2020 interview with the NME.
After all, it was the 1960s, and ideas for genres like rap and death metal were still decades away. In those happier, simpler times of the 1950s and 1960s, popular music was simply a footnote in comparison to the current deluge of discourse because of the crossroads that humanity was then experiencing. Bill Haley, Elvis, and Little Richard, among others, made a lasting impression on the minds of the generation that would produce our “classic” rock gods. Despite the fact that the aforementioned individuals had a profoundly inspirational effect that cannot be overstated, Nick Mason revealed that he believed another character to be the greatest of all time because of their talent and uniqueness.
For Mason, Bob Dylan is the greatest songwriter of all time.
Mason admitted he wished he had been the author of Bob Dylan’s timeless 1963 song “Blowin’ In The Wind.” About Dylan, he said, “The greatest songwriter of all time. It was so radically different from everyone else.”
